Saturday, December 28, 2013

Greetings, Polymer Cafe Fans

Here is a link to my Youtube channel page. Just click on VIDEOS and all six of my 2013's will pop up. If you like them, please subscribe. Its free and subscribers will be notified each time I release a new tutorial. I have 12 new vids scheduled for 2014. See you there!

http://m.youtube.com/user/SuperClaygirl

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Never Stop Dreaming

December 17th: Its been exactly four years since I opened my first package of polymer clay.

That first day I made a sculpture for my daughter-a little figurine on a plaque illustrating a joke we had between us. It turned out pretty well considering the fact that I had no idea what I was doing. I did know one thing, though: polymer clay was in my life to stay.

Caning caught my eye very quickly. Once I started making canes I couldn't stop. I studied everything I could get my hands on. I handled clay in one way or the other from 9 am to 9pm, five days a week. I had a clerical job on Tuesday and Thursday so I only made cane from 6 to 9 after work on those two days. Then it got worse.

I won't frighten you with any  further detail.  Obviously the clay thing got in my head like nothing else ever had. All my visions suddenly had vehicle, a transport from a misty region in my head to a tangible place in the solid world. I couldn't resist that.

So here's the kicker: Today I received my advance copy of the  clay lovers' bible-Polymer Cafe Magazine. I have a five page article in it. Then I checked my youtube stats. As of today I have had 9,129 views of my caning tutorials in less than 3 months. Then my favorite world-renowned clay artist messaged me and told me she sent me a complete set of her exquisite, expensive, state of the art sculpting tools - just because she likes my work. She also asked to purchase one of my pieces.

So, yeah, there have been a few times when I've asked myself if all that insane focus would ever lead to anything.  I've questioned the validity of being  a  single- minded, clay-obsessed dreamer.

But my dream is looking pretty real to me now; so I beg your indulgence, world.

Don"t wake me just yet.

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

The Solar Hotness!

Here's part two of my reversible choker tutorial. Its been so much fun planning and making my little films with my great friend Logan. Hope you enjoy them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiRrZKw-okw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Reversible Necklace-Make One!

Hi clayers! My first tutorial video on youtube got 1160 hits in under a week! Thank you!

The next vid will be about caning. We'll be making the cane seen here and part two will show how to make the reversible necklace.

We're shooting 10/20 and 10/21 so the tutorial should be available by 10/26.

If you like these vids please subscribe so you can be notified each time a new one comes out.

Clay on, my friends!

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Easy polymer clay Beads

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJzkzmUlwWc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Best Advice EVER

That's a photo of my Polyclay Idol, Christi Friesen, givin' the love to Old Pandora. Ms. Friesen gave me another gift that day and I want to pay or forward to my students.

Christi Friesen is one of the top polyclay artists in the world. And I mean WORLD. This is what she told me:

"Spend the same amount of time promoting your art as you do creating it."

See me hitting my forehead with my palm?  (And, no, I don't need a V8.)

For the last five years I've insulated myself in a blanket of inspired productivity like Whistler's Mother on Redbull. I've made hundreds of pieces with NO plan on how to sell them. I must have been thinking people would line my block, frantically searching for my tiny home, asking each neighbor, "is Pandora there?"

So now I put the clay on a high shelf, sit down at my keyboard and work. I show my art to people who want to see it. I write about it.

It's not easy though. Every artist would rather create art than create buzz. But what success is easy? Marketing is work.

I'm an avid reader of biographies; and guess what? The common denominator of everyone from Ghandi to Gaga is gigantic heapin' 
mountainous piles of work.

What a concept.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Bloggers Anonymous

If you ever want to express yourself with complete impugnity, start a blog.

I've discovered I can say anything I want, not because my vocabulary is unlimited, not because there is a vast world of potential topics, not even because of my unalienable rights as an  American citizen.

I can say anything I want because no one who knows me ever reads my blog. Ever. For instance, i could say, hey, maybe its a good thing I live too far away to babysit my little loved ones since they are percolating incubators of bacteria who seem to catch every vile malady that passes by. Or maybe, just for instance, I could marvel at the fact that my son has developed huge freakish thumbs from texting his friends incessantly, yet he has not a second available to actually answer a text from me. And there is nothing preventing me from mentioning that no one from my family has ever thrown old Pandora so much as a Like on facebook even though I've been posting pictures of my polyclay projects daily for four years straight - pictures that people in Madrid and Belfast and Queensland and Manhattan and Sri Lanka seem pretty enthusistic about. In fact, I think I'll go right ahead and say ALL that stuff! You know why? Cause they'll never read it. Sweet!

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

The "Scayne" Craze

So all you clayers, come clean with old Pandora.. Don't you ever ask yourself, "what will I do with all this cane?"

Its the making of the cane that makes us delirious with joy, right?  So sometimes its kind of a let- down when we have to figure out what to actually make.
Well, fret no more my darlings, "SCAYNING" is here!
Scayning is sculpting + caning.  All canes work for this technique. And you can imagine how fun it is to cut nice hearty slices of millefiore cane and then bend'em and form'em and create crazy martian greenhouses bulging with striped flying jellyfish and...oh, sorry.
Anyhooooo...check out my facebook page if you want to get your scayne on. Look in the mobile uploads. Facebook/busybusypandora.

Monday, September 16, 2013

What a Difference a Clay Makes

I had a friend over for a Clay- Date today. It was not only fun but eye-opening. I was helping her with a "scayning" (sculpture plus caning) project so we were using her cane, not mine.  Right away I noticed the slices lacked flexibility. When I tried to bend the flowers and form the flat leaf shapes into curved foliage the clay broke off at the pinch points and/or cracked. I knew the clay had been thoroughly conditioned already because it was Skinner blended.  So why was I spending more time repairing than creating? Then it hit me.

She had not used PREMO Clay.

I've been sold on Polyform products for years; but it wasn't until today that I realized I could not create the pieces I want to make without my Premo clay.

Who knew what a difference a clay makes?!

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Clay-Goggles

Like that famous guy with the beard and the sandals, the life of Pandora is delineated by letters: B.C. and A.D.
(Yes, I acknowledge and accept the inherent blasphemy.)

Before Clay I saw the world as it was.
After Discovery nothing ever looked the same again.

Through my clay-goggles, flowers appear in triangular segments of shape and color, the petals stretched or compressed, the centers dipping primly inward and or pushing up and outward in lusty pride. 

Clouds break up into every shade of pink and violet and blue, the colors assymetrical,  huddled close like sheep.  Wrapped in comfy neutrals and then torn and wrapped again.

The picture shown here makes me want to blend clay by the hour, watching it flow and morph and become luminous, playful, conducive.

I look and look at our astonishing world. I look until my eyes are tired. Then I fall asleep in my goggles and I dream about things I' ve never seen.  And I can't wait to wake up and open a new block of clay.

Friday, August 30, 2013

MY Drug of Choice

Its human nature to self medicate. For some its weed or booze or Cadbury. For me, its polyclay caning.

As you know, I'm 2 days away from my last big art fair. Now is not the time to start a new complex cane. Not only is it way to late to start any new pieces; but there are loads of little details I should be attending to. Gotta check the hundred plus pieces for flaws, Add clasps and extension chains to a couple dozen necklaces, put a last coat of resin on this, touch up the back of that, but Nooooo! I'm making cane.

Art fairs are a lot of work. So why am i goofing off?

Because caning is my drug. Everything around me blurs when I'm making Skinner blends and slicing through smooth sheets of clay.

The world around me fades to a hum and my temporal lobe sighs with bliss.  I'm lost on my own personal island of color and texture.

I call my caning class "The Magic of Polyclay".  For me, working with clay lives up to the name.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Hypocrites Anonymous

Not all personal revelations are painless. Maybe none of them are. To wit:

I was out distributing flyers for the art fair. In store after store I got the same response:"What art fair?"

I found myself getting increasingly disgusted. By the seventh "HUH" I gave up and headed for home. I spent the first few miles muttering curses to all the ignorant, clueless people who have no idea what's happening in their own community. Mumble mumble $&@*!

Then it hit me like a bat.

When was the last time I picked up my local paper?  Do I ever read the bulletin board at my library even though I'm there constantly? How about those emails I delete without even reading them just because they don't directly pertain to me.

Woops. The fact is I wouldn't know if freakin' dinosaurs moved in a block away. I never go there.

So tomorrow I will try again; and the little slice of society I encounter will meet a kinder, gentler Pandora.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

The Marriage Bowl

 
This is a commissioned piece made for a 35th wedding anniversary.

Something about that concept just warms the cockles of old Pandora's black little heart.

When someone asks me to make a gift for someone they love, I feel joyful; but when that person gives said gift  to their loved one and the loved one is thrilled, I'm elated.

And, my friends, joy, thrills and elation are nothing to take for granted.

I'm elated because we live in a disposable world, where things are used and forgotten or thrown away. Do you remember five presents you received last Christmas? Not many of us do.

The couple who received this bowl have discovered value in marriage, value in commitment, value in each other. They know permanence. A sense of things that last.

This is just a bowl (polyclay over glass); but it was a gift given in love and it marks the day two people made a promise they have kept.

And promises are not disposable.

Monday, August 26, 2013

The Good, The Bad and the ArtFair

   Howdy Partners. I've got to say I have mixed feelings about my date with destiny out at the OK Corral next week. No, its not a duel to the death - its an ArtFair.

Whyyyyy, I ask, are these events so uncomfortable? I'm not shy. I love to meet new people. I've worked hard and made nice things to sell. My table looks pretty. Well, here's why: Because you never know if anyone will show up, if anyone will stop at your boothif anything will sell, if if if!
 
So I guess its the "ifs"..

Yeah yeah yeah I know selling and making money is not the reason any of us make our art. Its just that art does cost lots of money and lots of time; and after all that effort and expense you may or may not reach even one art lover who will toss you that wonderful bone. The bone that says'  "Good Job!".

So I venture forth to my last ArtFair. I'll shine up my best pieces (the ones that didn't sell that time when all those "art lovers" walked right past my tent with their fried Twinkies and Walking Tacos.)  I'll trudge ever onward and upward,  powered by the hope that the show gods will smile upon me and I'll sell out as I actually have done several times when I least expected it.

Maybe this will be my best ArtFair EVER...if...

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Hamlet, SHMAM-let: The Clay is the Thing

A friend recently invited me to join her theater group. They're doing Shakespeare in the park. 

Now I've got to admit I was surprised, not only because she invited me at all, but because she did so knowing full well that I'm a notorious polyclay hermit.

Still, she was so sweet and persuasive I was tempted to say yes ; but I declined for four very valid reasons:

1) I can't act. 2) I can't act.
3) I can't act and 4) OK! I wanna stay home and play with clay.

I'm not a clay hermit! I'M NOT I'M NOT I'M NOT!

Perhaps the lady doth protest too much.

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Beautiful Days BITE!

On days like today, here in the Hoosier Kingdom, I find myself wishing for rain.

When you're a polyclay freak like me, perfect weather equals GUILT. Why am I not frolicking in the meadow or swimming in the lake? What kind of person stays holed up in her studio when the Gods of barometric pressure have so generously smiled upon her?

Um...that kind of person would be me.

First of all, I don't "frolic", at least not when I can avoid it. Second, lakes contain snakes. 'Nuff said. Plus you can't frolic and swim while caning polyclay.

Ok, you got me. Its all about the clay AGAIN.

But honestly I have tried walking while conditioning clay. I tripped immediately and dropped it onto the dusty road. There's $2.79 down the drain. And speaking of dusty roads there are all manner of insects and animals and scary plants lurking in the out of doors.

Maybe I'll stay in and clay. Just until Winter.

Friday, August 23, 2013

Clay or Other Stuff? No Contest.

Last night I went shopping for groceries. I had a sixty dollar budget which buys about a bag and a half of stuff. My list included laundry detergent, shampoo, dish soap, hand soap, Advil and enough food to make dinner for a week.

My reward for the shopping was a trip to Michael's for clay.

Now, I measure all purchases by this simple formula:

 Clay divided by Everything Else = GET THE CLAY

I obviously did not have enough money for "Everything Else" anyway; so here's what I did:

I bought laundry detergent and filled my dish soap dispenser with it. I bought shampoo and filled by hand soap dispenser with it. I got generic Advil. I pretended to "forget" the food completely.

Then I went to Michael's and spent the rest on clay.

Its all good, though. I think I have a can of tuna at home. But I'm out of mayo.